Int'l support to Jordan's response plan still lacking — planning minister

DEAD SEA — The government has taken the lead in responding to the consequences of the Syrian crisis in order to help the international community coherently and effectively support the Kingdom, Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury said Tuesday.

Citing the $2.9 billion Jordan Response Plan 2015 (JRP), Fakhoury said it covers a programme of targeted interventions to support refugees, host communities and the government. 

Since the beginning of 2015, only $165 million has been received, the minister said at the Middle East and North Africa Regional Consultation for the World Humanitarian Summit, which concludes on Thursday.

“The Jordan Response Plan 2015 is a one-year rolling programme to consolidate all major national and international efforts to address the humanitarian and developmental impacts of the Syria crisis within a nationally led and owned process in partnership with the UN and the international community,” he noted.

Fakhoury said the JRP was developed in a participatory manner through consultations with government representatives, donors, UN agencies and NGOs in order to ensure an effective response to the crisis, while also ensuring the alignment of assistance to the government’s main development priorities.

The region, he noted, is currently experiencing unprecedented political, economic and social upheaval, which has generated a number of humanitarian crises and dramatically increased human suffering and vulnerability.

“These crises are mostly man-made and can be solved only through political solutions coupled with firm international commitments to mitigate and address their impact.”

Fakhoury noted that humanitarian issues in the region cannot be dealt with in isolation from other development and resilience concerns, since their impact has widespread effects over host communities, institutions and systems.

“Those countries and host communities, who have generously opened their door to refugees, should be generously supported in their efforts to meet the needs of the most vulnerable while at the same time mitigating the ongoing impact of the crisis, sustaining national social and economic stability, and preserving the critical development gains achieved in the last decades,” he added.

The minister said the Syrian crisis is stretching the limits of Jordan’s resources to the breaking point, and the reality is that the international community is not sufficiently meeting its obligation to the people most in need or to Jordan.

Fakhoury said Jordan looks forward to the upcoming International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria in Kuwait and calls on all donors and friends to assist in closing the funding gap.

Speaking to The Jordan Times at the conference, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the international community has a responsibility towards host countries.

“I think when we have 3.8 billion Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq, it is obvious there is a huge responsibility for the international community,” he said.

Guterres, who met with Fakhoury on the sidelines of the conference. added that examining the dramatic increase in the populations of Jordan and Lebanon, as well as the huge impact on society, infrastructure, education, health and water, will show that these two countries require much stronger support from the international community.

“It is not only because they have been very generous receiving such a large number of refugees; it is because they also represent the first line of defence of collective security,” he added.